EDUCATION WATCH : How Much Was That?

The battle between Stanford and the Navy over questionable university billing has reached a welcome conclusion.

Ever since allegations surfaced that one of the world’s premier teaching and research institutions had overbilled the federal government by $250 million over 12 years, a cloud of suspicion had hung over Palo Alto. Eventually it led to the resignation of a Stanford president.

What’s especially noteworthy about the agreement announced this week is the strikingly small size of the dollar settlement: Remember that when the original allegations surfaced more than two years ago, the charge was that Stanford had overbilled the government by nothing less than a quarter of a billion dollars. But on Tuesday the Navy agreed to accept $1.2 million. By the usual standard of out-of-court settlements, that is not exactly splitting the difference. Instead it is a virtual concession that, whatever the offenses, they were a lot less than suggested initially.

This is not to imply in any way that billing the government under a research account for such outrageous items as the depreciation of a yacht owned by a university association and a steady stream of flowers for the former president’s official residence is acceptable. (The university argues it was following past acceptable accounting procedures.)

By our math, the Navy now seems to be saying that the university was overbilling by about $100,000 a year. Not to excuse any of the silly stuff, but is it possible that there was always less here than met the eye?